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stovetop

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Everything posted by stovetop

  1. Did the camera add to the marketing? steve
  2. I mean... when you are hungry.... everyone must eat.. if we do not eat we die. We are all the same. steve
  3. hey basil dog... do you still have your camera in the kitchen? steve
  4. I live in Canada... not England. But... a restaurant is a restaurant... the world is a small place... I have fed people from all over and have worked with people from all over the world and we all are really are the same when it comes to eating.. So once again when you work 20 thousand hours a day you must have fun... so who is your customer? Marketing!!! The Location..location..Location The one thing though and I would take it to my grave is this game is really about who your market is... yes the critic can take you there!
  5. Wow! Is this like an exam! "Best customer"... spends lots of money and does not complain" peace steve
  6. Everyone is a critic! so true ...... I just opened up another restaurant.. evryone has their own interpretation of who you are. God.. We just want to be who we are peace steve
  7. It really is about your customer... a restaurant is an extension of the owner’s personality. Like in life we all do not get along, People have many demands; these days in the west coast people have many crazy lifestyles and we all come from a multicultural background so that always adds to the mix. I have found that you can not always please everyone... but shit if I am going to work 20 thousand hours a day for nothing…. the one thing I am going to do is have fun. The one thing is when you own your own place is you can use that power and determine who you will serve or better yet...Who is your customer. Put on Metallica at full blast and you will piss off some one! The critic is in that night...... You are as a chef having a crazy night; baby sitting your staff... Can you really please everyone. Please your best customers and you will stay in business steve
  8. Yes! I have been in the restaurant bus for 26 years... seen it a few times. I have worked in Toronto..Edmonton..Vancouver and many other Canadian cities. Been a member here for a while. love the blend of the west coast page and the interactivity of the dialogue with critics on the Vancouver page. I am a Canadian chef! We need more of that (dialogue) the critic does not always get it! There is other types of marketing out there! The best thing is; know who you want your customer to be... Never!! Change That!! change your funiture..plates..underwear peace steve
  9. Ouch!! The critic can break us… an individual puts their whole life savings on the line and some pro comes in and writes about their experience. How subjective! Sidebar... the owner and chef had a concept in mind... The critics have their own opinion and agenda... what they do sells newspapers.....keep in mind they come in and judge what is going on! As a chef and restaurateur...who judges the critic? And yes can I be subjective? steve
  10. Franci ...I agree; Wine, does not make the rice...Yum.. saffron ... steve
  11. Sidebar! .... If you are in Vancouver you need to go to kits and do the walk! Go have a burger and sit on the deck...shit it is winter! Jericho beach is a great place in the summer to eat and have a beer and see the great view. ^%%*&% the food... the view is why you are on the west coast...... Toronto you can get the best of any thing. If you are in the ethnic mode; maybe Van can give little bit of a angle, but Toronto has three China towns so how can you beat that.... shear population!!! Vancouver has more Korean and better Japanese food; the Vietnamese scene is better too... Toronto though has some great Pilipino food. The view>>>> Steve
  12. In the end--- the thief was dinner It really is the ultimate insult- to gain your enemies soul or power. Steve
  13. Yes! …. You need a good stock, No Wine ….sorry I have not read up thread but basing my comments on one line “you do not need wine to make risotto”. What ever you’re medium is use the stock made from that meat, if it is veggie use, a good veg stock and finish with like a light miso broth or some good mixed mushrooms and yes of course butter and cheese-hell it would not be risotto without all that fat. Steve
  14. http://www.shinmeidomiso.com/productinfo.html steve Capers-any health food store
  15. Denman island Miso http://www.shinmeidomiso.com/companyinfobody.html http://www.soymilkquick.com/susan-marie-soy.html steve
  16. Hi Merlin: The pub is going good. We are open tues- sun 5-cl Opening for lunch soon We still have some construction happening and plenty of logistics. We have a wood burning grill which has been a logistic nightmare--- it needs a back up generator for the hood, with all the power outages it had delayed the usage of the equipment which delayed that part of the menu-- We are working through things. All will be good Steve
  17. http://www.cowichanbay.com/ http://www.butchartgardens.com/PDF/Wine_features.pdf http://www.wineislands.ca/ http://wine.appellationamerica.com/wine/li...nd.html?all-all http://www.abbeymoore.com/services/wineries.html Alderlea Vineyards, HERITAGE HEARTH, Duncan BC 9.50 50.00 500ml “Alderlea Vineyards Maple Bay, Duncan, BC Roger and Nancy Dosman operate Alderlea Vineyards near Duncan on the slopes above Quamichan Lake in the Cowichan Valley. Established in 1992, winemaker Roger is dedicated to growing high quality grapes and producing 100% estate grown wines. All products are made from the vineyard's grapes, including superb white wines, red wines and port-style wine." It was a damp and shadowy night, a week after New Years, so everyone was at home relaxing watching home movies in the comfort of their own warm and soft couch. Although for me after a solid week of helping with an opening of a restaurant at one of the oddest times of years, this night was my only respite given for the week. I had to take complete opportunity of this limited free time so I thought a walk and investigation trip was in order. So off we went to Cowichan bay for a walk and perhaps some food. We parked away from the center of this beautiful and quaint bay side place of Cow- Bay and meandered our way through one of the islands highways checking out the living museum that has some of the west coast oldest buildings. Cow Bay has one of the oldest grass tennis courts in the British Commonwealth. I could not help but think how much this Real Estate costs when I saw a “For-Sale” sign out on one of the water front “BB”. It will be sad day if they let all these old buildings decay and crumble for the sake of profit and development. Getting my way back to what was at hand, moments of rest and drain of the anxieties of organizing many in a kitchen which was pulled out of its soft warm place inside like a baby from its mothers grip, pushed out before her or his time into a cold a windy winter week. Power off and on, back up generators; much needed- not working, then again slowing progress in this slow moving Island world. We ran into a great restaurant called the Masthead where we proceeded to eat and drink our way to an incredible fever, perhaps the door to enlightenment had opened; but maybe not……..maybe it was the week at hand! This was my time now, I was with friends and we had a good time and the service was great…. The owner away! -- did not lessen a great restaurant; hey you could say that it was slow. I say if you can not get it right with one table—who is to say you will function well with TWO!!!!! I leave the critics to judge the food—as I digress into once again the wine! Alderlea Vineyards When I found out they had 2003 Pinot Noir---my fav wine of 2006—I was all over it like *&^% on *&^%; then again I enjoyed one of the last few bottles in the valley. This wine in very limited production is sod after. At least by me, I could drink this wine all the time ….So sad, that we can not get the same wine all the time. Although, good classic French Wineries seem to deliver year after year and this is a good thing. Sure they have the highlights but this year (Alderlea) for me was so grand. I feel that the Alderlea being so young has that great quality. Time will tell! ……..Although I am sure that last year will be great,; round the valley the realization of the new wine release in the spring; I can hardly wait!
  18. James two good points---I have gone for Spain-Chili- Argentina for many years (home and the restaurant menu) and usually over Australian; I guess I am burnt out on that country and their Cab Sav – Shiraz and Blends. I still enjoy and find the price point of those wines and the quality is still there. If you catch a find early enough and the gov has not increased the price; you generally have a wine that you can make money on and the customer is happy- it is a win win situation. This is a bad habit of the liquor board, just when a wine finds it time and market they have to go and jack up the price and ruin it for us. You can from my experience find nice price wines that taste good. I believe you can create a very good menu from digging around the liquor store for new wines from those regions and get a solid menu for a average restaurant with 10 bucks cost and a selling price of 30. As for the other point I have been wondering about this for a while and was thinking it was just me; why the hell not focuses on wines that would do well in certain terroir. It really does make the wineries scramble to buy grapes from somewhere else rather then just focus on grapes that do best on the land they have. Alderlea and many of the Cowichan valley wines seem to really have done their homework and are being very prudent and not going out and getting grapes from other regions. They pay for in terms of volume and price but I believe that is a good trade off to get the wines they have been getting. I would bet the farm on what they are doing and believe these wineries are going in the right direction. It really is true terroir because they are not introducing a foreign grape. It is grown and made right there. That is the true difference in a high volume and intensive farming. Lower price point but you will never get the charm and quality characteristics of a winery that only use their own grapes and would forgo a season so they would not have to compromise that effort. That is what good wine making is all about and hats off to them. That to me is what terroir is all about realy understanding what type of grape you are best at and putting out a top wine.
  19. Memo It is sad that good Canadian wines are pricing themselves out and we are faced with drinking Canadian crap. For me when faced with this dilemma I go with French or Italian and stay away from Aussie. Although it is cheaper to buy from the winery and Duncan is where I am living now. This fall I got some good deals by buying direct. Some great wines were tasted. -- Our pub (project currently involved with) --liquor store should be open very soon and maybe you can get some good priced local wines right here in Duncan. Local is what we are all about. steve except for Lucky beer--- biggest seller and it is not even made in BC anymore
  20. Cav sav Spelling--- you guys do not let anything go. cav sav---short form---cab sab (correction) no spell check---we need a canadian spellcheck
  21. How can one put all of BC’s wine in the same terroir? You would never say that all French wines taste the same or Italian; there is hundreds of BC wines that you or I have never tasted and will not get the chance unless you have very good buying practices. The best wines that BC produces are produced in small quantities and go very fast. Common practice is to buy the wine the year before.You have very different climatic zones with very different politics surrounding the wines. Vancouver Island and the Okanogan have very different soils and climate. New areas such as Fruitvale (by Trail) in the southern Kooteneys has very similar soil and climatic zones as lets say Northern Washington state just south of Trail where there are many very good small wineries doing some amazing things. I would say that trails Terroir is more comparable to Washington State then lets say the Okanagon. The two places are in different countries but the land is similar; at one time they were part of the same teritory. The 49th parallel is relatively new compared to the age of the surrounding lands in both countries. It is so easy to get to Spokane and the area surrounding it- history speaks for itself. The Okanogan property value and tax will keep the regions wine prices high; you have low volume so the price point can not even be close to high output wines from Aussie land and California. The almighty Shiraz; the Blends, Cav Sav, Merlot seem to be huge selling price point wines here in BC and Australia and New Zealand seem to be tops in that game. Many restaurants have these wines as their house wines. (Not high end places). I would not drink these kinds of wines from the BC perspective and think that there are better grapes suited for our growing climate. Pinot Noirs are a better choice if you do not want that green taste. Northern Washington state and California and Vancouver Island all have many Wineries doing just that and that funny movie called sideways made Pinot a household name in some circles. I mean has not everyone tired of Cav Sav and blends. A Pinot Noir that I must say is one of the best wines I have had recently was incredible smooth with hints of cherry with a aroma that was of blossoms in spring with hints of oak. It was from Alderlea Vinyards and was a 2003 vintage and is located in Duncan. Another good Pinot is from Saturna Island, it too had a great aftertaste and finish no green there. http://www.cowichan.bc.ca/visit/activities/vineyards.htm http://www.cgwinery.com/index.htm http://www.winesnw.com/spokane_area_map.html steve
  22. If a chicken has had corn in its diet it will have a yellow tinge- light skin colour does not mean they do something to it. Also different breads can have different colours. Steve
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